March 7, 2019

Goodbye Masterani.me, Hello WonderfulSubs. A Message to the Anime Community

Rest in Peace to one of the most prominent examples of how an anime site should be, Masterani. Compared to many similar sites of it's kind, it managed to win the hearts of thousands by catering to what users actually wanted.

And I would like to do the same with WonderfulSubs.

One of the very reasons WonderfulSubs came about the way it is today is due to my personal hatred for many of the anime sites I've visited in the past, majority of them filled with disturbing ads (that made it hard as hell to watch anything in a room with someone else), cryptominers, insanely slow speeds, and worst of all, pop ups galore to the point you couldn't click or touch a single pixel on the screen without some sort of nuisance popping up (I JUST WANT TO GET THROUGH ONE EPISODE OF DRAGON BALL WITHOUT SEEING HINATA'S JIGGLYPUFFS TAKING UP 75% OF MY SCREEN). So out of this annoyance, WonderfulSubs was born.

I'll admit I'm not the most die hard anime fan in the world, but I genuinely enjoy it and can easily get lost in a conversation about pretty much any old or current running series, mainstream or not, and that is what I love most about all of these types of anime sites; their community. And as important as community is, I like to listen to the (sometimes harsh) feedback that you guys and gals give and really take them into consideration when designing the layout of the site or what features to add. Unfortunately I'm just one person on the dev team and like most of us, I've got real life and real bills to take care of, so I try dedicating as much of my free time to providing the best anime viewing experience on the web as possible, even on the days when it seems it would just be best for me to give up.

With that said I appreciate what Masterani has done for the anime community by providing just that, a great experience with a great community, and with its passing I'd like to be able to provide the same experience or better with the help of the community.

After all, WonderfulSubs isn't my site. It's yours.
I know many of you tend to criticize the posts you see on the homepage of the main site, and I hear you. Although if you haven't noticed, there aren't any ads on the main site, only on this blog. While many people tend to say "Oh just add a donate button to the top or something" (by the way, look above) the reality is that most to no one actually bothers to donate anything even when they want claim to. And to those who have donated even a cent so far, I dearly appreciate you for your contributions. You just don't understand how much that means to me and how it keeps me going. Even anime sites that do have such a structure in place can hardly pay the cost of running the site per month with what they receive and often have to come out of pocket (see the owner of Anime Twist's (twist.moe) message to their community here for example). So I'd like to use this blog to be able to generate revenue instead, to keep ads off of the main site. Every article share is a help to WonderfulSubs, and I'm looking for writers to make articles on the daily (with compensation), so if you're interested, tag me in our Discord server and I'll see to you shortly.

So all that I ask is that you be patient with me please. 😁 After all, even with all the bugs, unfinished features, and disorganization issues of series (why the hell is Tokyo Ghoul Re under Hamatora? I'd never would have found it there!), WonderfulSubs at this very moment is already the largest collection of HD anime you can find on the web. If you have any suggestions, feedback, bugs reports, or just want to rant about how ugly and cringey the site is, feel free to leave feedback in our suggestions channel on our Discord server or make a post on our subreddit. Oh! And one more thing...

Make sure to spread the word and share the site with friends, family, that coworker you hate, and the hobo sitting in your driveway looking for some oppai goodies! Nothing could make me happier. ♥

May Masterani rest in peace and cheers to the future,
Your friend, Red